Top international pianist joins L’Orchestra Dell’arte at St Georges Hall

The Concert Room at Liverpool’s iconic St George’s Hall invites you to join them for a spectacular afternoon as they are playing host to top international solo pianist Stephen Hough who will be performing with St George’s Hall’s own orchestra-in-residence, L’Orchestra dell’ Arte.

 

L’Orchestra dell’ Arte and Stephen Hough will come together for one performance only of Franz Liszt’s ground-breaking Piano Concerto No.1 on Sunday 21st February 2016 at 3pm.

Liszt’s concerto was written over a 26-year period, finally premiering in 1855 with Liszt himself as the soloist. Even though this concerto predates all of the standard Romantic repertoire concertos such as those by Tchaikovsky, Grieg and Saint-Saens, it is easy to hear how much these later composers were influenced by Liszt’s ground-breaking style.

Stephen Hough is a British-born classical Pianist and has performed as a soloist with the world’s most prestigious orchestras. In 2010 he was named ‘instrumentalist of the year’ by the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards, a year later he was given an honorary doctorate by the University of Liverpool.

Born in Heswall, Wirral Stephen was pleased to accept the opportunity to become Patron of the annual Heswall Arts Festival. This concert celebrates five years of the Festival which was created by Valerie Warr FRSA, the Manager of Orchestra dell’Arte.

In his forward for Festival 2015 Stephen wrote “…my message for 2014 included the words I hope one of these days to come and meet you all; well now I am delighted to say that I will be playing in February 2016 for Festival Encore in St George’s Hall Liverpool: a doubly exciting moment as this is my debut in the beautiful Concert Room.”

L’Orchestra dell’Arte is a group of highly talented versatile musicians that have recently become the Orchestra-in-Residence in St George’s Hall. They were founded in 2010 and have played all across the North-West offering a very wide range of popular classical, romantic and themed repertoire. One of the orchestra’s key features is the flexibility its players employ to create smaller ensembles of every shape and size, from trios and quartets to octets and nonets.

The concert starts with Franz Schubert’s Overture in C Major in the Italian Style. Schubert wrote a number of overtures in the style of what would now be known as concert overtures, that is, not as the prelude to an opera or play, but specifically to open a concert of other works.

In the second half of the concert, L’Orchestra dell’Arte returns to the Italian style of the Schubert overture when they will perform the Symphony No 4 (The Italian) by Felix Mendelssohn. The first performance was in London in 1833 with Mendelssohn conducting. The opening movement is joyful and is in classical sonata form. It all ends very happily.

Stephen Hough and L’Orchestra dell’Arte will present an unmissable experience, so head down to The Concert Room at St George’s Hall for a spectacular afternoon at 3pm on Sunday 21st February 2016.

For further information, please visit www.stgeorgesliverpool.co.uk

Performance details

STEPHEN HOUGH IN CONCERT
Sunday 21st February 2016
The Concert Room, St George’s Hall
Entrance via North Hall (opposite Walker Art Gallery) St Georges Place, Liverpool, L1 1 JJ
Door Open: 2.30pm
Concert Starts: 3pm
Tickets: £15 (incl. administrative fee) plus £2.25 fulfilment fee per order

Photographs by Sim Canetty-Clarke

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